Zone of the Enders: Oblivion Crisis
by Scarecrow-Alone
Summary: A new villain? A new dangerous Orbital Frame? A new plot to destroy all? Awww, crap..... Chapter 5 up!
1. First Encounter: Begin Crisis

Disclaimer: Everything ZOE belongs to the folks who made MGS2, Konami, you guys kick ass. I make no profit off of this, but I wish I were….I'm so broke Sniff sniff

I was playing ZOE 2 last night and I got inspired. I've been up since 3 in the morning writing, and I feel like my eyes have been maced, so after I throw this up I'm gonna watch a movie or something while I fall asleep. I apologize for anything non-canonical, I've only played ZOE and ZOE 2, so I don't know any other story than the ones I've played. But then I don't need your good graces to use my imagination ;) Although I do enjoy opinions.

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The warship sliced through the dead of space, massive surges of energy emitting from it's engines. A flank of LEV's escorting close, rotating in a semi-formation around it. On the outside, it looked as though it were a simple UNSF patrol run. But inside, there was hysteria.

"Our sensors show the enemy breaking off from the main body of our forces and beginning pursuit, multiple Raptor frames and warships approaching fast."

"Defense cannons armed, energy levels show at 78 capacity."

"Supporting LEV's report ready for combat. Those yet to have deployed are finishing status checks and are preparing to launch."

Kieth Tarsoni stood at the main row of consoles, observing the work of the bridge technicians. A cold sweat had formed on his neck, and he was on the verge of hyper-ventilating. A lone warship now against at least a dozen others, and a massive swarm of Raptors. It was unbearable waiting for them to arrive. He wanted so badly to be somewhere else, and aside from the crippled force of LEV's at his disposal, only a lone Orbital Frame to depend upon.

He trudged shakily over to one of the crew, "Status on Marinaris?"

The young woman looked up at him for a second and looked back down, "She reports a small glitch with Ardjet's primary strike laser, but otherwise at full strength, and ready for deployment on your command."

"And what about our cargo?"

"Secure in the main bay."

Tarsoni stalked over to his seat and dropped into it. He needed to compose himself before they re-entered combat. Leaning forward, he massaged his temples lightly, still shaking a good bit. He'd seen his own share of fights, and even participated in a few, but never alone against so many. The lives of all the crew was on that girl's skill, and she was ex-BAHRAM!

Kieth looked up at the faces of the bridge crew. Many of them were frightened, and shaking almost as bad as he was. But there were a few who had been the heart of a crisis, and didn't so much as flinch at the sudden blaring of the attack alert.

"The first wave of enemy forces has arrived, combat engaged on multiple vectors."

"Main defense cannons firing."

"Sensors show several section of our hull being hit by light energy bombardments."

"Two warships have entered firing range and have began assault."

"Remaining LEV's in hangar have launched and have engaged."

"Sir, Marinaris has entered the launch bay, Orbital Frame Ardjet ready to deploy."

Captain Tarsoni wrung his hand for a second, then said steadily, "She has permission to launch, and tell her to be quick, we have to cripple their attack until our fleet can catch up."

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The massive hangar door split open to allow for the Frame's exit. It hovered there, for just a moment, suspended in the pre-battle meditation of a warrior steeling himself to face death. The energy boosters lining its feet and back ignited, and the Frame launched forward like lightning, straight into the fray of metal, lasers, and explosions.

The first Raptor to stray across its path was allowed a split-second look at it, before it's head and upper body were obliterated by it's arm blade. The second, a similar fate, but a diagonal cut down through its frail spinal column and through its right leg. A third, a crushed head as the Frame's sharp elbow came up in a recovery from the previous slash.

Many of the Raptors had ceased combat with the LEV's and had attacked the new and more dangerous opponent, all falling victim to Ardjet's superior speed and strength. The LEV's now had the space and opportunity to put their sights on the enemy warships.

Ardjet was finishing with the main bulk of the opposing Raptors, when an odd thing happened. A massive dark green light had emerged on the edge of the 'battlefield'. It began shifting into a larger, spherical ball of energy. It seemed to pulse as it stretched hard on all directions, before suddenly imploding, and creating a bright flash, that would have blinded anyone without the polarization of the cockpits.

A large discharge of energy seemed to crush the Raptors and LEV's within it's reach.

Another flash of light, and an almost ethereal humanoid shape was floating there. Ardjet had turned to face the new arrival, and its pilot was quickly becoming confused.

Ken Marinaris was leaning forward in her cockpit, staring hard at what seemed to be an Orbital Frame capable of warp, like Jehuty or Anubis. It had no distinguishable characteristics at all, and the only thing on it that wasn't totally shrouded in darkness was the angular yellow eyes. A black hand lifted up towards the battle, and a surge of dark tendrils shot forward and began thrashing out at all within reach, Raptors or LEV's.

Ken hesitated, but soon Ardjet was bunched up, ready to dash forward at it. She shot forward, and closed the distance easily in a few seconds, dodging around the abusive tendrils that batted at her like a fly. She had opened up fire at the center of the enemy Frame's mass with her scarlet tinged rockets, but each of them came only within two hundred yards of their target before seemingly de-activating and spiraling straight past it, then detonating a safe distance away.

Ardjet closed in on it, and its arm blade jumped forward to slash at its head, but was blocked when it simply raised its hand and grabbed the blade. It jerked Ardjet's hand upwards, and its other arm came out to smash against the other Frame's chest, sending it flailing out a ways before Ken managed to correct it.

"Ugh, I have no time for this…..Whatever it is."

Ardjet straightened up into what would be a standing position. The cape-like armor on its back disconnected and began splitting down, rotating around it before re-constructing around Ardjet's front. The build-up of energy began, the bright wavy collection shimmering and waving around as it was pulled in towards Ardjet. The cocooned Frame stared out at the enemy, which wasn't fazed at all by this change of the Frame's behavior.

Ken sat in the cockpit, smiling grimly as she prepared to launch the dangerous laser. Her hand hovered over the console, watching the energy levels spike higher and higher until it could rise no farther. She dropped her hand down, the surface illuminating as confirmation of the command flashed across her screens.

Then, the last thing Ken wanted to happen, happened. Scarlet warning alerts blinked up all over her console, flashing at her from the various status menus there. A distinctly mechanical voice issued the warning vocally, "Primary laser output overload, Orbital Frame integrity dropping, heat levels violent. Aborting process." Ken moaned in frustration as the Frame's cocoon dissolved and reverted back to the cape. She slammed her hand down on her seat's edge, and nearly went on to trying to dismantle every surface in the cockpit before she remembered the enemy.

It hadn't budged, and was staring out blankly as its tendrils continued their barrage on the remaining LEV's that hadn't broke off and returned to their hangar. The whole battlefield had ceased movement for the most part, all attention focused on this (for lack of a better word) thing. It seemed to notice the attention, for it lifted it's hand in a flourishing gesture. Then, it returned it's stare to Ardjet. Its head lowered in what would look like a bow.

Then, without any visible thrusters or the like, it surged forward at phenomenal speeds, and what could only be a blade melded out of its now outstretched arm, aimed directly at Ardjet's head. The feminine shape curled down to narrowly avoid being decapitated. Ken had ceased though of fighting this thing without her strongest weapon at hand. She turned the Frame to try and flee back to what safety the ship would offer, but was cut off by a new arrival.

Ardjet leaned back, boosting to a stop, and was staring up at the form of Jehuty. Against the light offered from the sun, it was as sleek as ever, angular head pointed down to look at Ardjet, and for those who could somehow break the meaning of a look from a machine, it would seem as if Jehuty was reprimanding Ardjet's inability to face off with the enemy. But to anyone else, it was just a machine looking at another machine.

"Hey Ken, surprised you haven't fried that thing yet." Leo Stenbuck's voice rang out on the communications link.

In her cockpit, Ken was frowning, "Watch it you, it's not my fault this uncooperative scrap of metal isn't fixed yet. That AI screwed everything up in here."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyways, the fleet's not too far away. Head back with the _Pyrolance_ and see if you can't fix your bugs before I crush this guy."

Leo had taken over regular operations in Jehuty after Dingo had been taken to medical facilities to replace his lost lungs and heart. He enjoyed having A.D.A back, but kind of edgy without Vic Viper, which he had grown so used to in the past couple of years.

Jehuty's head turned to face the enemy, who had retracted it's 'weapons' and was now waiting for another attack.

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There 'tis. Now review or face articulate speech!!!!!!


	2. First Encounter: Strange Happenings

Disclaimer: I don't own anything ZOE, so don't sue me for what I don't have.

First order of business, thank you Jenaisis-Sama, for being the first to review. I didn't feel like doing any more if no one gave me any feed-back. So, I have another chunk of story to write.

Might not be my best, cause it's kinda the same deal as last time. Been up a while and can hardly think straight, but usually thinking straight gets the smack-down on what creativity I pride myself on -

By the by, I got a message asking if I was a guy. I am. What does that have to do with stories?????

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A flurry of blue jets shot Jehuty forward like a rocket, cutting down the distance between it and the intrusive enemy……..thing. The yellow slits remained stationary, the owner of the eyes not giving a twitch. Mid-way through the former distance between the two, Jehuty blinked out of existence.

The shadow turned its head a fraction to the right, and behind it, Jehuty was primed for a fatal slash. The arch of the blade was accented by the blue glow of the metatron. It passed straight through the "neck" of the enemy. That was all. No floating metal head, no sudden jerks of a decapitated enemy. Straight through, and not a scratch.

Leo's surprise was momentary, replaced instantaneously by irritation. Jehuty shot backwards to a safe distance. Still moving back, a dozen neon blue lasers arched out and around the Frame, buzzing hard towards the intruder. For once, something seemed to have an effect. The enemy jerked to the side, narrowly avoiding half of them, but the rest pounding into the left side of it.

Where every laser hit, a ripple in the dark surface revealed a low golden texture underneath. Leo smiled. A weakness after all. However, the Frame now seemed to be in a rush. It balled itself up, and all of the tendrils that had sprouted out of it now contracted, melting into the surface. The next three things happened in little less than four seconds.

Firstly, the Frame bolted forward, straight at Jehuty. Secondly, in a smooth reaction from Leo's reflexes, Jehuty had raised its arm to build up a burst shot, and thrown it in the face of the attacker. Thirdly, when the ball of energy struck, the black "skin" of the Frame stripped away, leaving a skeletal, golden structure.

Leo yelped and Jehuty shot to the side, narrowly avoiding a collision with the enemy. It spun around to face the new look. There, twitching in a most un-becoming manner, was the exoskeleton frame of Anubis. Leo, in a spark of panic, urged Jehuty away from the hated memory. A.D.A's mechanized voice rang out.

"Unknown anomaly present. Metatron signatures show resemblance to Anubis."

Leo nearly choked, "What!? You didn't see that thing before?"

"Affirmative. I detected a high pressure sub-space current, but calculated it to be left over residue from Ardjet's failed ignition of it's main cannon."

Jehuty stopped moving away from Anubis.

"Hey, Jehuty's been fully repaired since Aumaan. We can take on Anubis." Leo gritted his teeth. Anubis again. What a pain in the ass. He almost attacked again, but A.D.A interrupted.

"This is not Anubis. Scans show functions similar to Ardjet, Nephtis, Inhert, and even Jehuty. Data from encounters with Anubis show no similarities to Anubis."

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((O)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Aboard the _Pyrolance_, Kieth Tarsoni was observing the battle from afar, the recently arrived Ken at his elbow. Both had the same reaction.

"What the hell?!"

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Cool, got done with that. Off now, to pillage and plunder the fridge!!! Review now, please.


	3. First Encounter: A Little Bit of Panic

Disclaimer: Only the things I write are mine. ZOE, and all stuff related to it belong to somebody. It's not me, so leave me be.

Well, this time I'm not half-dead. Guess I have no excuse if this sucks……..Ok, moment of self-degradation over. Although I see no logical point in continuing, what with the lack of feed-back coming my way, I'm thinking way too much about this story not to. But next chapter won't come if I don't get reviews.

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Chapter 3

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Leo scratched his head, "Ummmmmmm……Didn't you say the metatron signatures were similar to Anubis?"

"Affirmative. Scans of the emissions put out by this frame match with those of Anubis and Jehuty. However, no abilities detected within this frame's data core match with Anubis."

Leo blinked, "And it has a bunch of skills other frames have?"

"Affirmative. Readings indicate that it shares the multiple missile capabilities of Ardjet, the shield functions of Nephtis, the stealth and "shadow" manipulating abilities of Inhert. All of these have unusual fragments and revisions in their coding, though. The missiles have a scatter frequency, causing them to fly erratically in all directions, instead of homing. The shield has several separate layers, each operating at high energy levels. I believe this indicates that it can only be used in short bursts.

"The shadow manipulation is nearly completely changed. Inhert's abilities operated on two separate data cores, the first for powering the procedures of a standard Orbital Frame. The second controlled the projections of darkness. This new variant design is instead focused on extreme gravitational pull, similar to what can be found in the vicinity of a black hole. No records exist of such a device being made."

Leo could practically hear A.D.A buzzing while she looked up references and checked all weapon development plans she had stored.

To Leo's left, an insistent beeping caught his attention. A communications signal. He opened it, and a little screen projected on his screen. Leo blinked in surprise. It was Dingo.

His face was serious, and what little Leo could see of his torso was wrapped in bandages.

"Hey kid, what'd you do? Combat communications have gone totally ballistic with a noise I can only describe as pure panic. All I can figure out is that some really bad "thing" has appeared. Care to explain?"

Leo groaned, "I'll let A.D.A explain."

She did. Dingo's eyes nearly popped out.

"WHAT?! How the hell can Anubis still be alive? I toasted that piece of filth in Aumaan!"

A.D.A's calm reminder that it wasn't stemmed Dingo's anger for a split-second, "Well, go tear it apart, Leo, get rid of that thing!"

Leo suddenly remembered that the Anubis would-be was hardly a ship's length away. It hadn't moved.

"A.D.A, what's it doing?" He asked hesitantly.

"Talking."

"Huh?" Leo's remark was echoed by Dingo.

"I have been establishing a communications link with the Frame. I have concluded that it is self-operated, running on a combat AI that closely resembles the late pilot of Anubis."

"Nohman? Oh man, I thought a Viola AI was bad." Dingo sighed.

Leo however, was shocked, "A.D.A! You've been talking to Nohman for the past five minutes?!"

"Correct."

Leo stared at the blue control panel. After a few seconds, he gave a deep sigh.

He leaned back and stared at the view-screen of the Frame.

"Well, let's tear it up."

A new beeping sound hit his ears, irritated, he opened a new comms channel. This time, it was the _Pyrolance_.

Kieth's face filled the screen, and a shade of red and pink behind his shoulder indicated Ken was with him.

"Stenbuck, fall back. The _Gauntlet_ and _Hybrid_ are on approach, and are primed to blast that thing with their Goliath Cannon."

The Goliath Cannon was a new super laser that the UNSF had developed, with the help of the Vector Cannon data in Jehuty. It made cutting through the remaining BAHRAM fleets simple, but it required the combined energy of two freshly supplied titan-class warships to use safely.

Dingo's face lightened up, "Yeah, whatever grav-field that things got, it can't stand against the Goliath. Jehuty could tear through the compressed space around Aumaan with a pin-laser compared to Goliath. No sweat."

Kieth obviously didn't look pleased, but he didn't have the time to respnd, because Ken had knocked him out of the way.

"Dingo? What are you doing?! You can't be recovered from your replacements yet! Why the hell are you—"

"Enough, Marinaris." Kieth grumbled pushing her back, "Stenbuck, go and rendezvous with _Gauntlet _and_ Hybrid_. If the Goliath does fail, I have no doubt that thing'll turn its sights on the two.

A.D.A's clear voice cut in, "The Frame has left the area."

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Too much talking, I know. But still, I make a good suspense story, if I do say so myself. Ok, time for homework. By the way, I $#& HATE MATH!


	4. First Encounter: An Idiot, & A Dead Man

For those of you who've actually reviewed in the past three months since I put the last chapter up, thank you

For those of you who've actually reviewed in the past three months since I put the last chapter up, thank you. You're the reason I'm even continuing. I'm in a good mood right now, so I decided to start writing again. I'll also be amending the Chronicle of Balance story I have for Zelda : Twilight Princess after this.

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Chapter 4

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"It what?!"

Looking to his view screens, Leo found the Frame nowhere to be seen. Jehuty turned and scanned space.

A.D.A.'s voice chimed in, "The Orbital Frame has begun approach towards _Hybrid_ and _Gauntlet_."

In the _Pyrolance_'s screen, Kieth had jumped from the comms console and left the view. His voice could be heard in the background, "GET THOSE SHIPS A WARNING! MOVE, DAMNIT!" He came back and dropped his face in view, "Stenbuck, get to that Frame and hold it off while the Goliath is charged." The channel blinked out, and Leo was left with Dingo's connection.

"Go get it, kid."

Leo nodded, and he closed that channel as well.

Jehuty's limbs arranged to accommodate the added force of the over booster, and the shoulder jets opened wide. In a burst of blue energy, the Frame was barreling at tremendous speeds through space, rushing to reach the small armada soon to be assaulted by the Anubis clone.

"A.D.A, open the battle net." Leo was tapping screen after screen, reviewing his arsenal. Added to what Dingo had downloaded during the Aumaan war, technicians had outfitted Jehuty with a highly updated version of the phalanx cannon, and new model of the wisp function. The phalanx had a 70 higher firing rate, and was retrofitted with a new EMP round that could crack through energy shields after throwing down enough abuse.

The old wisp had been scrapped completely. The new one had been designed without any interest in pulling grappled targets to Jehuty. When latched to an enemy, the wisps would begin deleting chunks of operating functions in the data core with a virus A.D.A had designed and supplied herself.. This could effectively turn an Orbital Frame into a useless block of metatron. Unless a pilot could operate manually, of course.

As all the open frequencies were filtered through Jehuty's communication array, static and rushed reports flooded into the cockpit.

"_LEV battalion 330, deployed and engaging."_

"_All starboard cannons deactivate. All energy diverted to Goliath cannon and port cannons. Cut off all support drives and sub-boosters, conserve as much energy as we can for the blast launch."_

"_This is Captain Lyrca, all LEV units get off the ship and smash that Frame to dust!"_

"_Affirmative Captain, units are leaving the hangar and drop points as fast as they safely can."_

"Captain Lyrca, this is Leo Stenbuck, pilot of Jehuty. Don't let the LEV's near that Frame! They won't stand a chance!" Leo could see the _Gauntlet _and _Hybrid_ far off in space. Already, the flashes and explosions of space-adapted weapons could be seen.

"Don't give me orders, kid. We have this handled, so butt out." Leo's fist collided with the side of the seat, "Why is there always an ass like you in charge when things are serious."

Lyrca's pompous voice sounded around him, "How dare you?! I could have you arrested for insubordination."

"Listen you flake, I was given permission to assume field authority if a situation called for it, and this whole situation damn well covers the need. So, you're temporarily removed from duty as Captain. Give me your first officer onboard." Leo had long since lost patience with idiots like Lyrca.

It wasn't until he had crippled an entire LEV squad for turning their weapons on him and Vic Viper after he'd refused orders from the idiot commander, that Elena had heeded the advice of her smarter officers and given Leo field authority. Luckily, all the pilots had survived, although the commander of the squad was demoted several times over, until he was nothing but a technician.

Lyrca's voice cracked, "What are you­­––"

"I said you're removed as Captain until this battle is over. Until then you're a civilian. Now shut up and go stand in a corner. Keep your mouth shut unless someone wastes their time talking to you."

The other end was silent for a good bit, and then a female voice chimed in, "Second Lieutenant Merana Balkra at your service, Stenbuck."

"You're field rank is Captain until high command deems otherwise. Understood?" Jehuty would be in the battle again within minutes, and Leo could see the enemy Frame dodging around cannon fire from the _Hybrid _and_ Gauntlet._ LEVs hovered around the ships, unsure what to do in the confusing re-arrangement of command.

"Yessir, perfectly."

A new voice crackled in, "Commander Stenbuck, Captain Jarren of the _Gauntlet_. First, thank you for dropping that lunatic Lyrca. Second, what orders for Captain Balkra and myself?"

"Once I engage the enemy, you and Captain Balkra with fall back to a safe range to link ships and fire the Goliath from. Take all LEVs back into a barrier formation, and cease all laser fire once I arrive. Inform me once the Goliath reaches 80 charge capacity."

"Yes, sir." Both Captains replied, and the comms went silent. After a couple seconds, field chatter filtered back through, and Leo could keep track of the fighting units.

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"Well now, Colonel. It seems the clone is doing its job well."

In a dark lit, circular chamber, deep within a hidden BAHRAM fortress, a wall of screens showed several aspects of the battle, as well as virtual replicas of the Anubis clone's systems. A tall, skinny, gray-haired balding man stood observing them all. Several yards behind him, a black alcove full of thick cables and red flashing lights was humming mechanically. In the middle of the mass, a badly scarred, grotesque form sat on raised throne-like chair.

All but one of the limbs was cybernetic, and the grafts from the left arm stretched all the way up to cover half of the face of the being there. Many cables laced up from behind the cyborg and were hooked into the chest.

"I see that. It can only be expected from my creations..." Colonel Nohman's voice had a deep metallic ring in it now. His left eye swiveled in odd directions at the various screens in the room while his remaining eye kept locked on the man at the console.

The man turned to look at him, "However, the shadow skin was easily damaged by Jehuty's pulse blast. You need to find a way to upgrade it."

Nohman's mechanical face twisted into the equivalent of rage for such a damaged being.

"You will _not_ tell me what to do, Varlin!"

Chuckling, Dr. Varlin turned back to his screens, "You're no longer commander of BAHRAM. You were stripped of that title when you let yourself be so easily defeated."

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Done, now review you buggers! I've had all kinds of patience so far!


	5. First Encounter: End Encounter

Had an opportunity to work a bit more tonight

Had an opportunity to work a bit more tonight. Work is kickin' the hell outta me. Well, anyway, here it is.

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Chapter 5

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The Anubis clone swept around in a zigzag, dodging the oncoming torrent of blasts with infuriating ease. It would feint a charge at a cluster of LEVs and then dodge back, twisting out of the line of fire at the last moment.

Every now and then, the purplish wisps would lash out and snare a LEV, tossing it about for a bit, then cripple it by crushing some vital component or another.

This went on for ten minutes or so, the LEV pilots growing increasingly irritated with this childlike foe.

Suddenly, the clone stopped, and it swiveled around to face the shining blue blot rocketing in its direction. The head of the shadow covered machine jerked up in a defiant gesture, and with a sweeping flourish, seemed to taunt the oncoming Frame.

In the cockpit of Jehuty, Leo ground his teeth, staring dagger at the superimposed image on his console.

"So it thinks it's funny."

A.D.A's irritatingly logical reprimand soon followed, "As a lower function AI, it is doubtful it can simulate humor."

"It was a figure of speech, ADA………." Leo groaned half-heartedly. Despite his new attachment to Vic Viper, Leo felt comfortable in the familiar environment inside Jehuty's cockpit. Thinking about how well suited he had become to fighting in a Frame brought a smile. But on that same note, he remembered the grief the Frame had brought him on that day at the colony.

Shaking himself, Leo returned his gaze to the Anubis clone.

The LEVs were hesitating, many taking the time to shift back to a barrier formation around the ships.

The clone was waiting patiently for Jehuty to arrive, now ignoring the surrounding enemies.

With Leo's battlecry, Jehuty charged head on into the clones face, the arm blade whipping out across the front of the intruder. The frame moved quickly, swatting its arm out to meet the other. They sat locked for a second, before the clone jerked outward violently, sending Jehuty reeling back. The boosters ignited, and Jehuty was circling vertically to the clone.

Another cry, and Jehuty plummeted towards the clone. Before they came within striking distance, Jehuty seemed to blink out of existence. With a gesture of uncharacteristic confusion for the clone so far, it looked around for sign of the disappearing frame. Behind it, the image of Jehuty shimmered and wavered into solidity. Jehuty's arm jabbed out to impale the frame with the armblade, but the frame had time to whirl to the left out of range.

Exhibiting the strange lack of inertia, the clone switched direction with impossible speed back to connect a hard blow with its forearm. Jehuty drifted a ways, then swung around with a pulse blast in its fist. The aim was true, and the blue fire washed over the clone. Again, the ear-splitting shrieks echoed over the comms, and the writhing frame's shadows were ripped away, exposing the skeletal frame.

Jehuty surged forward to land a blow, but the frame twisted back and out, its ability to change direction effortlessly yet again keeping it out of harm's way.

Leo groaned, "The way it moves, the Goliath won't be able to hit it…."

As if on cue, "The comms channel switched to a private transmission.

"Commander Stenbuck, this is Captain Balkra. The Goliath has reached 80 and is rising to full capacity."

"Hold your fire for now. I need to stop this thing from moving before the cannon will be any good." Leo took the time to curse the engineers that had wanted to keep the vector cannon for study at Command.

Then an idea struck him. He grinned briefly. Zero Shift was terribly useful.

The clone had by now reshaped its shadowy skin. It faced Jehuty defiantly, ready to continue the battle.

Jehuty, drawing itself straight, blinked out again. It reappeared next to the clone, which lashed out, only to swish through dead space. Jehuty popped up again above it, and disappeared again right as the enemy attacked. The new game grew faster, each couple of seconds punctuated by the passing in and out of space right next to the increasingly agitated frame.

Its movements grew random, striking wildly at the elusive foe. The speed picked up even more, Jehuty now leaving after images all around. Then, in a microscopic instant, Jehuty closed its arms around the middle of the enemy frame. The surprised AI twisted madly, trying to shake off the new weight.

Leo grunted amusedly, "This thing really isn't anything compared to Anubis. Heh, try again BAHRAM. Captain Balkra, fire at the frame!"

"But sir, you're in the line of fire!?"

"I'll be fine, just fire the damn cannon."

Not far away, the two specially designed cruisers had joined from the top, and between the two of them sat a massive contraption, reminisce of the vector cannon. The power rings were rotating wildly, and the air between the ships shimmered with the zero space being ruptured.

Hesitating only a moment, Captain Balkra, joined by Jarren, gave the order to fire.

The bright blast of energy lanced almost point blank onto Jehuty and the clone. In the instant before the blast connected, Jehuty's Zero Shift kicked in again, and the clone alone was obliterated.

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Oh how like me, a dramatic ending to yet another chapter. I think I watch too much tv…………


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